diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 1930abd797..101b88af48 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -12314,7 +12314,7 @@ qemuParseCommandLine(virCapsPtr qemuCaps,
         vid->vram = virDomainVideoDefaultRAM(def, vid->type);
         if (vid->type == VIR_DOMAIN_VIDEO_TYPE_QXL) {
             vid->ram = virDomainVideoDefaultRAM(def, vid->type);
-            vid->vgamem = 8 * 1024;
+            vid->vgamem = QEMU_QXL_VGAMEM_DEFAULT;
         } else {
             vid->ram = 0;
             vid->vgamem = 0;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.h b/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
index f7d3c2d16c..6246a8552c 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@
 # define QEMU_MIGRATION_PORT_MIN 49152
 # define QEMU_MIGRATION_PORT_MAX 49215
 
+# define QEMU_QXL_VGAMEM_DEFAULT 16 * 1024
+
 typedef struct _qemuBuildCommandLineCallbacks qemuBuildCommandLineCallbacks;
 typedef qemuBuildCommandLineCallbacks *qemuBuildCommandLineCallbacksPtr;
 struct _qemuBuildCommandLineCallbacks {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 3d4023c6c8..6416a28320 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -1178,7 +1178,7 @@ qemuDomainDeviceDefPostParse(virDomainDeviceDefPtr dev,
                 goto cleanup;
             }
         } else {
-            dev->data.video->vgamem = 8 * 1024;
+            dev->data.video->vgamem = QEMU_QXL_VGAMEM_DEFAULT;
         }
     }